Montblanc permanent black - Not so very permanent

[RobDb]

I’m a big fan and these days I only write with permanent inks. I have a collection of permanent inks in various brands and colors. But I’d like to highlight one ink in particular: Montblanc Permanent Black.

 

Personally, I don’t think the name “permanent” is really accurate here. I don’t think this ink is truly permanent because it doesn’t hold up well against water.

 

The color is beautiful and a deep black. The ink also performs well in most pens and doesn’t dry out as quickly as certain other permanent inks. So less attention is required for pen maintenance with this ink. There is some water resistance, but compared to other permanent black inks, it’s certainly not enough for me.

 

However, I am a bit disappointed with the water resistance, even though this ink is labeled as DIN ISO 14145-2. And I’m only talking about water resistance here. I haven’t conducted other tests, such as UV resistance, yet.

 

But I wanted to mention the water resistance of this ink. This might be useful information.

 

See the attachment, where I compare three permanent black inks, including Montblanc Permanent Black.

 

Best regards

 

InkTest - Permanent Black.pdf

[yazeh]

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for sharing your experience. 🙏

 

Paper and pen flow can affect water resistance a lot, especially on coated paper. Even with all three nibs marked M, different pens may put down very different amounts of ink. A wetter pen may leave more ink on the paper’s surface, which can make a water test look worse.

Did you notice the same result on Rhodia or more absorbent paper?

 

A JPG or PNG preview might also help, since some members are more likely to view an image directly than download a PDF. 😊

[welch]

I looked up the ink on the Montblanc website. Advertised as if it matches one of the specialty permanent black inks that Mr. Noodler offers. Clearly is not. 

 

I never use anything more permanent than Golden Age inks of the 1950s and '60s, when "permanent" meant "tough to wash out". Maybe someone else hastried this ink. Or maybe it was reviewed somewhere on FPN. Our "little nut house", as Wim calls it, has many people posting reviews.

 

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Here is a review from about 2013.